


rivers 'till i reach you

by rosesandspades713



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions, spoilers for 8x03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 15:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18720295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesandspades713/pseuds/rosesandspades713
Summary: "He had realized it somewhere along the long journey between King’s Landing and Winterfell. Her words had been ringing in his ears as he said goodbye to Cersei, and they continued to fill his mind as he traveled north. It was what kept him going, knowing he would be able to see her again at the end of the road. But if he’s being truthful, he’s loved her longer than that. It just took a while for him to realize."....."There’s more she would say, she thinks, and it brings a slight blush to her face as she carefully removes her gauntlets. A part of her she keeps pushed deep, deep down surged up within her last night. The way he looked at her as he knighted her, the smile he returned hers with, they fill her with a sharp warmth that’s so strong she’s nearly ashamed."





	rivers 'till i reach you

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends!! This is my first Game of Thrones fic, and it's a little rushed since I wanted to get it up before 8x04 makes it obsolete. I've been on the Braime train for almost three years now, and the content so far this season has been So Good. Here's hoping we have something good to look forward to tonight!
> 
> Fic title is from "Rivers and Roads" by The Head and the Heart

The sun rises over a battered yet still standing Winterfell, and Jaime Lannister finally allows himself to relax. The battle against the dead has been won, somehow. He doesn’t care who dealt the final blow, whether is was Jon Snow, the Dragon Queen, or something else. All that matters is that the battle is over. And he’s still standing. 

His back slides down along the wall that he was making a final stand in front off when the White Walkers fell. His eyes close as he rests his head, and he’s almost asleep before he hears a voice from beside him. 

“We’re alive.”

It’s quiet, and Jaime can barely hear it over the ringing in his ears, but there’s no mistaking that voice. Brienne. The woman who saved him from the wrath of Daenerys Targaryen and the Starks. The woman who, just a few short hours before, he’d knighted. The first female knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and the woman that he loves. 

He had realized it somewhere along the long journey between King’s Landing and Winterfell. Her words had been ringing in his ears as he said goodbye to Cersei, and they continued to fill his mind as he traveled north. It was what kept him going, knowing he would be able to see her again at the end of the road. But if he’s being truthful, he’s loved her longer than that. It just took a while for him to realize. 

Here in the present, Jaime’s eyes shoot open, and he turns his head to the side to see her. In the early morning light she looks fierce, ethereal, even as the blood and gore of the dead are all over her face. He must look much the same.

Brienne’s eyes meet his, and he can feel the exhaustion that lies within them. And behind, far behind that exhaustion, relief. 

“We’re alive,” he affirms, too battle-worn to say anything more than that. But what he would say, if he could. She must know by now, that she’s the reason he came north. Her words back in King’s Landing challenged him to choose the correct path. She’s always done this to him, since the very first time he met her. He hasn’t always followed her, but he knows now, basking in her radiance as the sun rises, that it no longer matters. He was here when it counted. He fought for the living, and they won. But more than that, he fought for Brienne. 

As he looks upon her face, her expression a tamer version of her scowl, he remembers last night’s smile. The smile, that precious, marvellous smile that was on her face after he’d knighted her was the best thing he’d ever seen. He knows he would do anything to see her smile like that again.

“Brienne, I-“ He starts to say something, and her gaze flicks to meet his, but he’s interrupted by the sounds of movement in the courtyard around him as the living begin to take stock of the damage. Podrick stands up on the other side of Jaime, who’d forgotten the boy was there. He’s almost grateful for the interruption, as he frankly has no idea what he was about to say. Judging by her vitriolic reaction to him complimenting her yesterday, an impromptu confession of love would likely not go over well. That’s not what Brienne deserves anyway, a rushed confession riding on the adrenaline of battle. 

She shoots him one last confused look as she scrambles up join the growing mass of soldiers and Jaime is careful to let his face remain neutral. He has time, after all. No need to rush things.

* * *

It’s the younger Stark girl that has saved them all, Jaime learns soon after the initial chaos. He missed the details of how, exactly, but it doesn’t matter to him in this moment. All that matters is that she managed the impossible. And now the living can turn to licking their wounds in preparation for another battle. The day that follows that long night is, by order of Sansa, to be spent in recuperation before repair work can begin. As the dead Starks in the crypt came to life as well, Jaime sees no one untouched by the horrific violence that ceased only an hour before.

Healers are called to attend to the gravely wounded, and Jaime considers himself lucky that neither he or Brienne can be counted in that number. They and the rest of the able-bodied are left to tend to their own wounds. Tyrion finds him quickly, and Jaime is overjoyed to see his brother unharmed. It’s almost—almost—enough to distract him from the sight of Brienne walking by. Tyrion follows his line of sight and sighs, interrupting himself. “You haven’t said anything, have you?”

“What is there to say?”

“You haven’t been able to take your eyes off her since you got here,” Tyrion says. “And this is at least the third time that you’ve ignored me when she’s around. I’m not stupid, I know exactly what’s going on here.”

Jaime sighs. “It’s not that-“

“Not that simple?” Tyrion interrupts. “Of course it is. You find her attractive. You may even love her. Whatever the particulars of your feelings might be, I believe the next logical step is to tell her. We’re going to be marching south soon, after all.”

He knows his brother’s right. He didn’t tell her before last night, and they both nearly fell. There’s still one more war to fight, and the North’s forces are greatly depleted. If he doesn’t tell her before they march south, he may never have another chance. 

“Follow her,” Tyrion says. “And then come by my quarters later. We’ll split the last bottle of wine I managed to hide away and you can tell me how it went. But Jaime?”

“Yes?” He’s already heading towards Brienne, but he stops to face his brother once more. 

“It will be fine. And please, wash yourself off first.”

Jaime simply nods before he hurries off after Brienne as she slips into the castle.

* * *

Brienne had tried to report to Lady Sansa immediately after the dead fell, to ask what she could do to help, but Sansa had ordered her to get rest, and that there would be plenty to do tomorrow. So Brienne made her way back into Winterfell, casting a cursory glance toward Jaime and Tyrion as she walked past them.

She was overjoyed at the end of the battle to find herself still alive, Jaime and Podrick as well. It had been a brutal fight, worse than any she’d ever experienced. And her first as a true knight. 

Brienne finds her chambers in the castle just as some of the servants are leaving it. Sure enough, when she goes inside there’s a bath waiting for her. The bed looks so inviting after the night she’s had, but she knows she has to bathe first. To get at least a little of this filth off of her. So she sets to work taking off her armor. It’s largely a mindless effort, so she allows her thoughts to wander back to last night, before the horns sounded and the battle began. 

Never in all her life had she imagined that she could be knighted just like that, so easily that she wasn’t sure it was happening. But as she’d seen the pride on Jaime’s face, in his eyes, she had finally allowed herself to believe it. She knows she smiled like a fool last night, but she was so happy at the time that she hadn’t cared. An impossible dream of hers, finally coming true. All because of Jaime. 

He’d wanted to say something to her after the battle was over, but the post-battle chaos had stopped him. Now that she has a moment to herself, she wonders what it was. If she were less afraid, she knows what she would have said to him. She would have fully expressed her gratitude that they both made it through the night. That he took the advice she’d given him, back in King’s Landing. She would tell him how good of a man he was, to forsake his home and his family for the good of mankind. 

There’s more she would say, she thinks, and it brings a slight blush to her face as she carefully removes her gauntlets. A part of her she keeps pushed deep, deep down surged up within her last night. The way he looked at her as he knighted her, the smile he returned hers with, they fill her with a sharp warmth that’s so strong she’s nearly ashamed. 

She tries to turn her thoughts away from this precarious path, and doubles down her focus on removing her armor. She’s unbuckling her breastplate when there’s a quiet knock on the door to her chambers. The sudden break in the silence startles her into dropping her breastplate, and it clatters loudly on the stone floor. 

At the alarming sound, the door swings open to reveal none other than Jaime Lannister. His armor is gone, and he’s wearing fresh clothes. Brienne can see that there’s still some dirt from the battlefield on his arms, but his face is scrubbed clean. It feels like she only just saw him in the courtyard, he must have rushed to get here. The thought fills her with apprehension. 

“Brienne, are you alright?” he asks. She can only nod, frozen in place by the surprise of his presence. He steps fully into the room, and she doesn’t move. Taking that as a good sign he moves towards her, and it’s only then that she finds her voice. 

“Why are you here, Ser Jaime?”

He freezes in place, and Brienne curses the cold tone that snuck its way into her voice. “I mean, I’m glad you’re h—that you’re alive,” she stutters, unwilling to reveal her true feelings so easily. “But why aren’t you in your own quarters?”

“I’ve just come from there,” he says, gesturing to his clean outfit. “I had to see you, to make sure you were alright.”

His words send a shiver down her spine that she tries to quash immediately.  _ He’s just being noble,  _ she tells herself. 

“I need to get cleaned up,” she says, her words softer than before. “Thank you for seeing to me."

“Let me help,” he says, bounding forward to be at her side. “Please, I want to be with—I don’t want to be alone right now.”

Brienne’s heart skips a beat as she finishes Jaime’s first thought in her head. He wants to be with her? Silenced from shock again, she simply nods and steps over to the bath. He follows her wordlessly, and when she stops moving he immediately works to remove the rest of her armor as she wets a washcloth to wipe herself off with. 

Jaime doesn’t say anything for several minutes, as the two of them work in tandem. She’s grateful for the silence, but at the same time it allows the thoughts in her head to take over, wildly overanalyzing the moves either of them make. Within a few minutes, every piece of her skin that isn’t covered by the tunic she wears under her armor is clean again. She allows herself to look at Jaime again, the intimacy of the moment causing her to blush. He pulls up two chairs and sits down on one, motioning her to sit on the other. She obliges, and he takes her hand in his. Part of her wants to pull away immediately, fearing some terrible trick is coming. But then she remembers last night, and she realizes that Jaime would never do something like that to her. As he’s proven time and time again. 

“Brienne, we almost died last night,” he begins, and she cringes at the memory of it. The sound of swords clashing, the screams of the living as they died, the growls of the dead as they bared down upon her...Brienne pulls herself out of those thoughts and refocuses on the present, on Jaime’s hand in hers. “I want you to know,” he continues, “that if we had, I would have been glad to be by your side. It would have been an honorable way to die, alongside a fellow knight.” She can’t help but smile at the reminder of her new title. 

“But we lived,” she replies, meeting his gaze. His eyes are just as soft as they were last night. Softer, even. “Both of us, we survived.”

“A fact I will be eternally grateful for,” Jamie says. “Because it allows me to say something that’s been on my mind for what feels like a very long time.”

Brienne’s heart feels like it’s pounding in her ears, and her hands suddenly feel cold. Her adrenaline is up, just like it was on the battlefield. “What is it, Jaime?”

He doesn’t meet her gaze, but instead looks down to their joined hands. “I came here to fight for the living, but I also came here for you. Because you’ve always seen my potential, and you’ve always given me a chance to better myself. And I have. Or tried to, at least.”

She’s frozen, both from fear and from anticipation of what he might say next. Not moving, not speaking, she simply waits for him to finish. 

“All this to say,” he continues, looking up to meet her gaze. She’s struck by the emotion in his eyes, and her breath catches in her throat. “I love you, Ser Brienne of Tarth. More than I can easily express.”

She can’t breathe. She can’t believe it. “You-you  _ love  _ me?”

He doesn’t seem surprised by the skepticism in her voice. “I do,” he replies simply. “You are one of the most important people in my life. You have been there for me time and time again.” Gently, as if afraid he’ll scare her off, Jaime takes her right hand in his and brings it to his lips, brushing them against her knuckles. Even this slight contact fills her body with warmth and she feels her walls begin to break down. “I don’t know what the future holds for us. We survived last night, but there are more battles still to come. And even if you don’t love me back, I wanted you to know just how much you mean to me.”

He pulls back and stands up then, and Brienne doesn’t even stop to think before she blurts out, “I love you too.”

Jaime freezes, and she watches as a smile grows on his unfairly handsome face. “You do?”

Brienne stands up too, and takes his hand in both of her. “I do. I love you, Ser Jaime.”

It’s silent for a moment, the two of them looking at each other with the full light of day streaming in from the windows. Then, quietly, hesitantly, Jaime asks, “May I kiss you?”

In this heightened state, Brienne has to hold back the desire to crash into him. Instead she answers as calmly as she can, her voice shaking. “You may.”

Neither of them move at first, but then his hand moves to cup her cheek, so softly it barely feels like it’s there. They lock eyes and Brienne feels her heart jump out of her chest as Jaime closes his and leans forward. Her eyes shut just as their lips connect. 

It’s a little awkward, and Jaime’s beard is tickling her chin, but that’s drowned out by the overwhelming rush of happiness that comes over her. Jaime’s lips are soft, and she can feel his warmth, and it’s everything she could have imagined. 

They come apart much too soon for her liking, and they’re both breathing harder than they were before. Jaime’s eyes are on fire, lighting up every part of her. 

“I want to do that every day for the rest of my life,” he says, his voice hoarse. 

She says nothing, and goes in for another kiss. If that’s all he wants, after making her greatest dream come true last night, then he can have it. As long as they both shall live.  

**Author's Note:**

> *prayer circle for braime tonight*
> 
> If you liked this, you should come check out my tumblr [here](https://rosesandspades713.tumblr.com/)


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